PDA

View Full Version : Marines form group for bonding



thedrifter
03-15-09, 08:13 AM
Marines form group for bonding
By Rachel Brown
Dalton Daily Citizen

Matt Farrell still has the Marine-issue combat boots he wore in Vietnam in 1966-67.

“I just keep them,” he said. “It’s just a reminder.”

The “Once a Marine, always a Marine” mentality is one reason the Dalton Marine Corps League formed, he said. Farrell is the detachment’s commandant.

The group formed in June as a way for former and active Marines to bond with each other and serve the community, members said. They served more than 500 area families with a Toys for Tots drive near Christmas and recently received a flag from Congressman Nathan Deal that flew over the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 13. Now they’re looking to expand their membership.

Ancil Garvin of Dalton, who retired as a lieutenant colonel after 31 years, said the effort began when he spotted a Toys for Tots drive at a local car dealership a few years ago. Toys for Tots is a Marine project, he said, but there was no Marine representation at the drive. Already a member of a Marine Corps League detachment in Rome, Garvin decided to see what it would take to start one closer to home.

The answer was 22 signatures. Garvin began recruiting.

Junior vice commandant Kelly Johnson of Ringgold, who served 1996-2000, said he was sitting in his car — which sported a Marine bumper sticker — at a local store when Garvin tapped on his door. Johnson cautiously cracked the window while the retired Marine introduced himself and explained his mission.

“I went ahead and rolled the window down the whole way and shook his hand,” Johnson said.

Most of the members didn’t know each other before they joined the detachment, he said, but they all have a common bond and enjoy swapping war stories.

“Truth be told,” Garvin added, “my wife, my family, they don’t want to hear any more about the Marine Corps and what we used to do.”

That’s why the detachment is important, he said.

Farrell was stationed in Chu Lai, Vietnam with about 165 other Marines in the A battery, second light anti-aircraft missiles battalion. The unit was isolated from other military units, he said, and provided for its own security, food and other needs. Its mission was to deter the North Vietnamese from flying south, and to secure the nearby Chu Lai airfield.

Farrell still collects Marine paraphernalia and he’s one of many former service members who do.

“It reminds me of NASCAR followers,” he said. “A lot of the stuff that I have is stuff that I actually kept from Vietnam.”

At the detachment’s monthly meeting on Saturday, the group discussed ways to increase membership. Dee Davis from Murray County is the only female Marine in the detachment. While Davis said she takes some teasing, she also said the Marines have a camaraderie that transcends gender.

Her husband, Tim Davis, is also a member of the detachment. The two met while serving in Okinawa, Japan, and have been married 28 years. Tim Davis is the senior vice commandant of the Dalton detachment, and Dee Davis is over the group’s future Web site.

“(The Marine Corps League) was something for us to do together,” she said.

The detachment is designed primarily to serve Whitfield, Murray, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga counties although no one is turned away, officials said. Former members of other branches of military service can join as auxiliary members, who participate in the detachment’s activities but don’t vote or hold office.

Ellie